Closure of scheduled domestic air operations till May 24 and lower capacity deployment thereafter on account of Covid-19, significantly impacted the first quarter results of IndiGo which reported a net loss of ₹2,844.3 crore for the quarter ended June. The airline had reported a net profit of ₹1203.1 crore during the same quarter last year.

According to Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, CAPA, India, “This is the highest ever loss posted by IndiGo”.

The government stopped all domestic and international flights from March 25 till May 24 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the airline said its total income for the quarter ended June was at ₹1143.8 crore, a decline of 88.3 per cent over the same period last year, while passenger ticket revenue declined 93.1 per cent to ₹585.4 crore while ancillary revenues stood at ₹168.8 crore, registering a decline of 81.3 per cent over the same period last year.

The airline said it had a strong balance sheet with total cash of ₹18,449.8 crore, including free cash of ₹7527.6 crore and ₹10,922.2 crore of restricted cash, as on June 30.

Addressing financial analysts after the results were declared, Ronojoy Dutta, Whole-Time Director and Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo, said the domestic fare caps need to be removed as quickly as possible arguing that this is something which will also benefit passengers. The government capped fares at the upper and lower levels when flying restarted on May 25. Initially the fare cap was till midnight of August 24 but this has now been extended till November 24.

“The contribution of our international charters after covering for variable costs have been quite encouraging. We intend to continue with charter flights even as we ramp up capacity,’ he added.

The airline operated over 1,000 flights in the first week after lockdown was lifted.

Dutta said the airline unit revenues were reasonably strong though at very low capacity levels. “We have seen an 11.1 per cent improvement in yields in the quarter as compared to the same period last year which was the time Jet Airways shut down. The flights we operated made a significantly positive contribution which has helped us off set part of our fixed costs,” he added.

The airline aims to deploy around 60-70 per cent of its fleet in the third quarter . “This is subject to government lifting capacity restrictions,” Dutta said.

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